Enemies

From The Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 In the world after the cataclysm, most living things are out to kill you. This starts with the wildlife, where many starved predators – such as wolves and coyotes – will try to eat you. Even seemingly tame animals, and those who appear impassive at first, can become a serious threat. Some of the wildlife was also affected by whatever catastrophe caused the cataclysm: From simply massively enlarged ants and bees to terrifying swamp creatures and even zombified animals, there are many dangers out in the wild.

Then there is the obvious problem of the zombified inhabitants of the many cities. They come in several different varieties, from the pesky zombie kid to the massive hulk. Some still carry some equipment telling of their occupation prior to the apocalypse: soldiers, riot police or scientists, to name just a few. Then there are those who have undergone more significant changes, giving them very unhuman traits: spitters, shriekers, boomers, shockers and smokers are the most prevalent, but there are still far more sinister and powerful zombies lurking in the cities and elsewhere. Be vigilant!

Perhaps most disturbing, though, are the creatures that no longer resemble any known thing – or maybe never have. From animated goo blobs, to living plants and fungi, to things that are capable of utterly destroying minds by just being looked at.

There are many terrors in the world of Cataclysm, and if you dare face them, you better be prepared…
 
WARNING: This page may contain spoilers and ruin the joy of adventure.
Remember, it is not 'dying' it is 'learning how to do better next time'!

Enemies' senses

You can be detected in three ways: sight, scent, and sound.

The way sight works is simple: most of the time, if you can see them, they can see you. Though, there is an exception for a night vision bonus - it enhances a character's sight radius without giving him away. Sight has the highest priority for monsters; they will use other senses only if they cannot see you or they do not have the SEE flag.

The secondary sense is smell. The player character is almost always surrounded by his scent cloud; when you are moving, your scent slowly follows. Monsters ahead will not smell you until you come close, or stay near the same place for a while (and your scent cloud spreads). Therefore, for example, ants will ignore an incoming player at first, but then the player may have problems with outrunning them. Your scent can be intensified with the Strong Scent trait and the Smelly and Very Smelly mutations or completely negated with the Olfactory Mask bionic.

The last sense is hearing. Monsters use it when they cannot see or smell you. When you make a noise, monsters will track it to its source. The louder the sound, the longer the enemy will move toward that point, until they can see or smell you. More info is at the noise page.

Some of the monsters cannot sense you at all; they just roam around randomly. Zombies have all three senses. Plants usually can smell and hear. Robots usually can see or hear.

Automatic monster catalog

The Item Browser now has a monster catalog, it reads the game's data files so it's always accurate.

Species

All insect species have FRIEND_DIED anger-trigger.

Common fear-triggers:

  • mammals: HURT FIRE FRIEND_DIED
  • insects: HURT FIRE
  • worms: HURT
  • plants: HURT FIRE
  • fungus: HURT FIRE
  • nether: HURT